Backpacking Along A Wild Beach

Discovery Trail: Long Beach/Cape Disappointment

Aug 11-12

This was a fun backpacking trip along the Discovery Trail that leads to Cape Disappointment. You can start at different trail access points. We chose to start our hike in Long Beach to Cape Disappointment and 8.5 mile hike one way. We reserved a camping spot at Cape Disappointment State Park. After hiking along the trail and seeing several really neat trail markers and memorials, we set up camp in the park along the beach. The kids loved this particular backpacking trip because it was unlike the rest in that they hiked along the ocean and camped within a few hundred feet from the ocean. They spent the evening, until 11 playing in the waves, burying each other in the sand and running along the beach.

As night fell, we finally went to bed…in a huge state campground….such a different feel. The next morning we quickly broke camp an started on our way back. We were trying to beat the rain, which we didn’t, see the ocean again, which we did, and get back to meet family that was coming over to go backpacking with us on another trip.